Great Falls tribune., 1887-08-13
OVER A HUNDRED KILLED.
An Awful Railroad Accident Near
Chatsworth. Illineis-Appal-
ling Scenes.

ChatswortI. Illinois-Appal-
ling Scenes.
CuIcAGo, August 12 = The Chicago
Times special from Forest, Illinois. says:
''All the railway horrors in the history OF
this country were surpassed three miles
east of Chatsworth, Wednesday night
Peoria & Western railroad dropped
through burning bridge and over one
hundred people We're killed and four
times that number mere or less wounded.
The train was composed of six sleeping,
six day coaches and chair cars. and three
baggage cars. 1t was carrying $50 pas
sengers. All were exc,lrsionists, and
We're bound for Niagara Falls. The train
had been made up along the line of the
Toledo. Peoria & Western road and the
eXcursionists came from various places in
central Illinois. the bulk of them, how
ever, coming from Peoria. Some of them
came from Canton, Ell Paso, Washington
and in fact from all stations along a line
extending from as far west as Burlington
and keokuk. A special aud cheap rate
had been made for the excursion and all
sorts of people took advantage of it..
When the train drew out, of Peoria at 8
o'clock in thesevening it was.loaded to its
full capacity. Every berth in six sleepers
was taken, and the day ears carried sixty
people each. The train was SO heavy
that two engines were hitched to it and
when it passed this place it was one hour
and a half behind time. Chatsworth, the
next station east of here is six miles off.
and the run there was made in seven min
utes, so the terrible momentum of these
fifteen coaches and two heavy engines,
shooting through space at the rate of Il
mile minute, can be understood. No
ston was made at Chatsworth, and on the
heavy train, with living freight sped
through the darkness of the night.
THE BRIDGE ON FIRE.
Three miles east of Chatsworth is little
slough where the railroad crosses a dry
run about ten feet deep and fifteen wide.
Over this was stretched an ordinary wood
en- trestle bridge, and as the train came
laundering down on it, what was the ter
ror of the engineer of the front engine
when he saw that the bridge was on fire.
Right before his eyes Ieaped the bright
them: there was no chance to stop. Had
there been warning, 1t would have taken
a mile to stop that onrolling mass of wood,
iron and human lives. The train, more
over, was within one hundred yards of the
red -tongued messenger of death before
they flashed their final signals into the
engineers face, but he passed over in
safety, the first engine keeping the rails.
As it went over, the bridge fell beneath it.
and it could only have been the terrific
speed of the train that saved the lives OF
the engineer and his fireman. The next
engine went down and instantly the deed
of death was done; car crashed on car,
coach piled on coach, and in the twink.
ling of an eye nearly one hundred people
found instant death ard fifty more were
so hurt they could not live. As for the
wounded, they were everywhere. The
sleeping coaches alone escaped, and as
the startled and half-dressed passengers
caume out of them they found such 8
50 "a
such work to do that it seemed as if hui
man hands were utterly incapable of it it
AN AWFUL SCENE.
It lacked just FIVE minutes of midnight
Down in the ditch lay the the second en-
CINE, engineer McClintock dead and fire
man Applgate badly injured. On top OF
each other, like child's card after
he had swept it with his hand, lay the cars
The six day coaches We're telescoped a>
were pressed in just enough space fol
one. The second car had mounted of It's
trucks. crushed through the car ahead oi
Il dashing the woodwork aside like tindei
and resting on top OF the seats, While every
passenger in the front car was laying dead
or dying underneath. Out of that cal
but fourpeople came alive. The floor oi
the second car was smeared with blood OF
its victims The other three cars were
not so badly crushed. but they were broker
and twisted i'll every conceivable way, and
every timber and beam represented q
crushed human frame or broken bone
GRoASs OF THE DYING.
Instantly the air was filed with the cries
of the wounded and the skrieks of those
about to die. The groans of men, the
screams Of women, united to make an ap-
palIing scene and above all could be heard
the agonizing cries of little children. In